Puella Ferrum Toni Magica
by friendofthequn
Summary: Toni thought getting kidnapped was hitting rock bottom. But things can always get worse, especially when a weird bunny-cat thing pops up with a way out that seems way too perfect. Toni's about to enter a whole new world, but she'll soon find out it's a one-way trip to the part nobody wanted to advertise.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Iron Man, or Black Sabbath.**

CHAPTER ONE

Summer vacation dawned with clear skies and a mild breeze. In hindsight, Toni Stark would be rather miffed that the world couldn't be bothered to at least drizzle a bit on the worst day of her life to date.

At the moment our story begins, Toni wasn't too concerned with the world outside the car. She was more concerned with how her fingers were starting to go numb from the ice-cold glass of water she was holding. She took one last gulp and put the glass in a cup holder. _Problem solved. Yay. God, I'm bored._ She turned her head to look back forlornly at the trunk. She really shouldn't have let… uh… whatever the driver's name was put her carry-on bag back there. That bag had just about everything that made her life worth living. Her laptop, phone, 3DS, notebooks… at this point, she'd be happy to have that book she'd brought along just so she could be reading it when she saw Jarvis again and shove in his face that, yes, she _was_ reading, what was all that about how all those electronics must be giving her cancer at this point? Hell, she'd even take her _Vita_ , which had been so neglected that all the dust blowing off it when she packed it back in her bag gave her roommate an asthma attack.

Boredom wasn't a good state for a genius like her to be in. She hadn't even been in the car for half an hour, and she'd come up with probably a hundred new ideas for weapons or computer programs or how to smuggle booze into school. She was starting to get a headache from the enormous backlog of world-changing ideas demanding to be brought into the world, even if it would only be as a few lines of a sketch before it became clear how stupid it was and was promptly crumpled up and thrown in the trash.

Toni decided to try staring at the driver in the hopes that he'd notice and start a conversation, even if it started with 'You're really creeping me out, stop it'. Any attempts _she'd_ made at starting one had been summarily shut down. The gruff attitude combined with the muscles stretching the seams of his suit made her think he was a bodyguard doubling as a chauffeur. Her dad was in one of his paranoid moods, it seemed. Not that Toni could really blame him. When your job involved enabling mass murder, it paid to be on the safe side. At least he cared enough to make a token attempt at preventing her horrible untimely death.

By this point Toni had grown bored of the whole staring plan and decided to change tactics. "Hey, would you mind turning on the radio?" The driver turned his head ever so slightly toward her, face impassive as ever. After what Toni could only guess was a Sherlock Holmes style evaluation of the situation, he reached over and hit the power button. "Thanks."

"- has refused to make a statement regarding the matter," came the staticy voice of some reporter that sounded kind of familiar but not enough that Toni could name her. "This morning in Afghanistan, Howard Stark, founder of weapons manufacturer Stark Industries, demonstrated his latest weapon - the Jericho."

"I was thinking something a bit more musical," said Toni, glaring at the radio. The driver/bodyguard obediently switched to FM. "Thanks." Toni's frown turned upside down as a familiar electric guitar riff came from the speakers. "Oh, sweet, this is my jam! Mind if I sing along? I'm gonna sing along." Driver-bodyguard-guy didn't have time to reply before the vocals kicked in.

 _Has he lost his mind?_

 _Can he see or is he blind?_

 _Can he walk at all,_

 _Or if he moves will he fall?_

Driver-bodyguard-guy's head was almost imperceptibly bobbing up and down to the beat. Toni opened her mouth to needle him about it, but then the worst day of her life kicked into gear.

Even with the benefit of hindsight, Toni would never know where the car came from. In the moment, she wasn't even entirely sure what had happened for a few seconds. Then the confusion faded and she noticed the screaming and twisted metal around her and pain permeating most of her body. _Three guesses, right? Uh, car crash, that's… number one possibility. Pretty much one hundred percent probability. What other possibilities are there? Aliens, that's always a good one. And, um… freak meteor crash? Okay, that's three. And this whole line of thought probably means I've got a concussion or I'm going into shock or something horrible. Yay._

A man who was certainly not Driver-bodyguard-guy was suddenly standing over her. _Is Driver-bodyguard-guy dead? I hope not, he likes Black Sabbath. People who like Black Sabbath shouldn't die._ The look in the man's eye set off all kinds of warning bells in Toni's head. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but she'd been so busy thinking about aliens and meteors she hadn't done an inventory on what was going on with her body and found that something was restricting her chest and making it impossible to take the necessary breath. The man pulled a cloth from somewhere and put it over her mouth. Toni's thought process devolved into panicked swearing as her consciousness seeped away.

 **A/N: Hey guys, I know you all want the next chapter of Alfred Jones (and Others), but I recently did a marathon of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and this unholy fusion brought the question of 'What if the Avengers were Magical Girls instead of superheroes?' to my mind. Because people totally want to see the middle-aged man who became a hero with nothing but his own brains and resourcefulness be turned into a teenage girl who got magical powers from a mascot character. Since the MCU started with Iron Man, I am too, even if he doesn't have his own category on this website and I have to file him along with all his friends (Really, website? You gave ANT-MAN his own category, but not Iron Man? Ant-Man's awesome, but... really?). And also because I apparently have a thing for writing characters with out-there thought processes. I'd like to say that I'm definitely going to do adaptations for all the movies, but I said something similar for AJ(aO) and look how that's turning out. I'll try, but it'll take a while. I hope you'll enjoy however much I manage to complete. Now, it's late, and I should really be going to bed. Sorry if this was too rambly.**


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

 _12 Hours Earlier…_

Toni pumped her first in victory with one hand and used the other to pull her winnings toward her. "Woo! Come to mama!"

Her fellow poker players (she couldn't for the life of her remember any of their names) expressed their displeasure in various ways. One buried his face in his hands, another let out an annoyed squawk, another was a bit more eloquent and said "Oh, come on!", and the last one simply quietly stood up and walked out of the room.

Toni picked up one of the cards and twirled it between her fingers. "So, ready for another round?"

"Toni, if you've been smuggling that stuff in here again-"

Toni sighed. "Take five, guys." Feeling very pleased that she'd chosen the swivel chair, she spun around to see Rhodey standing nearby holding a trophy. "Don't worry, buddy, I've been a good girl. Security _really_ clamped down since last time. So, do you have a trophy for me or are you just happy to see me?"

Rhodey thrust the trophy into her hands. "You said you were going to be there."

Toni rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I talk a lot, in case you hadn't noticed. I was there in spirit and, trust me, if I'd actually physically been there, my spirit would have flown off halfway through. Do you have any idea how boring awards ceremonies become after you've had to sit through dozens of them?"

"No, I don't," said Rhodey.

Toni sighed. "We all have our own crosses to bear, I suppose." She gestured to her winnings. "Mind helping me carry these? I don't think those guys are coming back."

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. "You were playing for packets of gum?"

"Yup!" said Toni brightly. "I'm set for life!"

Though he grumbled about it, Rhodey did help her in the end. He wasn't in a particularly talkative mood, though, so Toni took advantage of the silence to start chewing through her new stash. They'd made it all the way to the door to Toni's room when Rhodey broke the silence. "He… wasn't there."

Toni felt her expression darken and kept her gaze fixed on the door handle. Rhodey had a really nasty habit of looking in her head and finding the questions the logical part of her mind knew the answer to, but the emotional part hoped would be something else. "Yeah, well, you know, if he came to every awards ceremony I had he'd never be able to get any work done. It's not like I go to all of his." She opened the door and dropped the gum she was carrying on the floor. "Just throw it there. See you tomorrow. You need your beauty sleep." Rhodey barely had time to throw his own burden after her before she slammed the door in his face.

Toni was woken up far too early. She had no idea what time it was, but since she was being woken up by an external force (in this case, someone shaking her), it was by her definition far too early. She groaned and pulled her blankets over her head. The mysterious human-shaped alarm clock pulled them back. "Toni, you need to get up."

Toni cracked an eye open just enough to confirm that, yes, it was indeed Pepper. "No, I don't." Pepper dropped Toni's empty suitcase on her legs. "Ow!"

"Toni, you're almost fourteen years old. Please stop acting like a child and pack your things."

"Yes, Mom," Toni grumbled, getting a bit unsteadily to her feet and looking around the room for the things she needed to pack. There was a lot of it. "Say, while you're in Mom mode, would you-"

Pepper was already folding a pair of jeans. "With you, I always have to be in Mom mode."

With Pepper's help, packing didn't take too long. The most interesting thing that happened was Toni's roommate Christine walking in just as she was packing her Vita and getting an asthma attack from the clouds of dust rising from it. Toni was able to finish up while Pepper helped her with her inhaler.

She slung her carry-on messenger bag over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of her proper suitcase. "Right, well, I'm heading home. See you in a couple weeks, Pepper. Christine, I'll see you on Facebook." She took a step towards the door.

"You aren't forgetting something?" asked Pepper, though really it was more of a statement with the last syllable being slightly higher for the sake of politeness.

Toni checked her bag quickly. Then it hit her. "Oh, yeah! Christine, you have my permission to say that you're friends with me if you want to impress anyone." Pepper's expression didn't change. If anything, it got a bit darker. "Okay, what did I forget?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just my birthday."

Toni snapped her fingers. "Right. That was it."

"Yeah, funny how it happens every year," said Pepper dryly.

"Do you accept Vitas?" Toni offered.

"Don't worry about it. I stole some money from your wallet and got myself something nice."

"Oh, good. I wish more of my friends would do that, it's so much easier." Toni adjusted her bag and gave Pepper a hug. "Happy birthday. I'll throw a big party when you come to my place."

"You weren't going to do that already? I'm shocked." Nonetheless, she did hug her back. "Take care of yourself until I get there, okay?"

"No need. I've got a legion of nannies waiting to descend on me as soon as I get home to do that for me." Toni let her go, gave one last goodbye wave, and headed out into the big scary world.

She didn't even make it outside the dorm when her phone rang. Sighing, she stopped to rummage through her bag to see where she put the damn thing. She managed to get her hands on it before the ringing stopped and quickly accepted the call before it went to voicemail. "Hello?"

"Toni! It's me."

Her annoyance evaporated a little bit. "Oh, hey, Obie! What's up?"

"Just checking in. Your driver said you hadn't turned up yet, so I was worried."

Toni started moving again. "Yeah, sorry, slept in, and why is the driver calling you?"

"Your parents are out of the country for that presentation, remember?" said Obie.

"I remember everything," declared Toni.

There was a blast of static that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. "Of course you do. Just make sure you get in the right car this time, all right? It's got the Stark Industries logo on it."

Toni rolled her eyes. "You know, it would be nice if I could interact with something that didn't have that logo stamped on it."

"It's a good logo, we like to use it. Call me when you reach the airport, all right?"

"Fine. Talk to you later." Toni hung up (metaphorically, anyway, this wasn't the dark ages) and paused again to put her phone in her bag. While she was stopped she looked around to make sure she hadn't been so distracted by the call that she had gone in the wrong direction. Thankfully, her multitasking skills seemed to have improved and the parking lot was within sight. She set off confidently toward it, so of course she had to stop in her tracks almost immediately when Rhodey stepped out from behind an artistically trimmed bush. "Hey, do they call these things topiaries?" she asked, gesturing to the plant. "I'm pretty sure they do, but I'm not an expert."

"And I am?" Rhodey shook his head. "No. We're not getting into that. You know what I want to talk to you about, you're not getting out of it by talking about topiaries."

"No, I don't know," said Toni. It was true, somewhat. She didn't know exactly what Rhodey's plan was, but his expression meant it was something she really wouldn't like.

Rhodey didn't disappoint. "This is the last time you're going to be seeing this place in a long time. Don't you want some closure?"

"What, you want me to take you on a guided tour down memory lane? 'Here's the classroom where I had that course I was able to literally sleep through and still ace it'? Oh, wait, that's all of them, never mind, it would take too long." Rhodey gave her a Look with capital L. "Oh, fine." Toni turned back to the dorm and yelled, "Goodbye, boarding school, it hasn't been fun! See you again never!" She looked back at Rhodey. "Happy?"

"No, but I guess it's the best I'm going to get," he said. A beeping sound came from his pocket and he pulled out his phone. "I need to go. Don't be a stranger, all right?"

Toni smiled after him as he walked away. "All right. Try not to die of boredom until I call!" She turned and continued on her way to the parking lot with a spring in her step. _Okay, maybe Rhodey was right,_ she thought to herself. _That did feel kind of good. Goodbye, high school/middle school/whatever, hello summer vacation and MIT!_

In hindsight, she should have known something horrible would happen after thinking something like that.

 **A/N: Kind of a boring chapter here, but hey, introducing characters is kind of important. See you guys next time for actual magical girl stuff!**


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Toni woke up and immediately regretted it. Everything hurt. Her body had become a smorgasbord of suffering. _Hey, that would be a good name for a band. How did I get injured?_ Her memories came flooding back. _Oh, right. Crap._ She opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying on a cot in a room with a rocky ceiling. She noticed the walls were identically rocky and realized that it was a cave converted into a living space, not a proper room. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and noticed how raw her throat felt. There was some kind of cup or small bowl or something on a makeshift bedside table. She reached for it, but all she succeeded in doing was knocking it over. _Of course. Of freaking course._ She let out a rather manic chuckle, but it quickly turned into a pained groan.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Toni's gaze flew to the speaker. He had his back to her, so all she could make out was that he was balding. He didn't sound very threatening, at least, but if everyone dangerous sounded threatening the entire police procedural genre wouldn't exist. Judging from the position of his head and arms, he was probably shaving.

He didn't seem too immediate a danger, so Toni turned her attention to herself. There were bandages on both her arms, and her chest felt awfully heavy considering she was just wearing a t-shirt and an unzipped hoodie. She lifted the collar of her shirt and saw that her chest was indeed heavily bandaged. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she sat up on the cot. Her head swam a bit but she recovered quickly. The man had finished shaving and was now stirring something that smelled vaguely edible. "This your handiwork?" she asked, gesturing to the bandages.

He turned to look at her. His face was as unassuming and non-threatening as his voice. The glasses certainly helped with that image. "Yes. Your injuries were rather severe," he said. "Still, not the worst shape I've seen the victim of a car accident in."

"You've seen a lot of those?" Toni asked.

"I'm a doctor." The man paused. "Or, at least, I was." Despite herself, Toni could feel herself relaxing. There was something rather comforting about the doctor's demeanor. Bedside manner, she supposed. She zipped up her hoodie and gave the room- _cave_ a better look, now that she felt more reassured that he wouldn't attack her as soon as she took her eyes off him. The telltale red light of a camera in a corner caught her eye. The doctor noticed where she was looking. "That's right, smile!" he said brightly. _Nobody is that happy about being watched except some celebrities_ , Toni thought to herself. _He must be trying to keep me from freaking out._

This impression was further solidified when the man continued with, "We met once, you know. At a technical conference in Bern."

"Don't remember," said Toni.

"That doesn't surprise me. There were a great many people wanting to introduce themselves to you after that lecture on integrated circuits you gave."

Toni had had enough of this touching bonding session and decided to cut to the chase. "Where are we?"

Right on cue, someone knocked heavily on the door and yelled something Toni couldn't understand. The doctor's calm evaporated immediately. "Stand up, stand up," he hissed, grabbing Toni by the elbow and hauling her to her feet. "Do as I do. Now, put your hands up." He released her, and it took all of her rather limited balancing skills not to fall over as she put her hands above her head.

The door opened and three armed, dangerous looking men walked through. The weapons enthusiast in me focused on the guns and came to a chilling conclusion. "Those are Stark guns. How did they get-"

"Do as I do!" the doctor snapped, silencing me.

More men came into view and the one in front began approaching the two prisoners (Toni was pretty sure the doctor wasn't here entirely by his own will, either), speaking in a language Toni didn't understand. Even so, she did catch her name. He finished his speech and gestured to the doctor. "He says welcome, Toni Stark," the doctor translated. "The most promising future mass murderer in the history of America." Toni normally would have taken offence, but there were a lot of guns in the room and she knew exactly how well designed they were. The leader continued speaking, and the doctor continued translating. "We're honored. They want you to make them a missile. The Jericho missile that your father demonstrated." The leader passed the doctor a piece of paper. He showed it to Toni. It was a picture of the Jericho missile. "This one."

Toni took a moment to review the situation. She had no idea where she was, she was surrounded by bad looking people with guns, and she had no idea when rescue might come, if it would at all. The logical thing would be to do as she was told. But, well, Spock had never been her favourite Star Trek character. "I refuse."

Toni could still feel the water clogging her ears as she was led through the cave complex her captors had built. They were careful, of course, keeping a bag over her head the entire time. A girl they believed could create a deadly missile was not one they were going to underestimate. After enough rough handling and sharp corners that she very much felt like throwing up, they stopped and Toni could feel wind tugging at her clothes. The bag was pulled off her head and she blinked in the sunlight, her eyes struggling to adjust after so long in a badly lit cave. Once they had, she almost wished they hadn't. There tents set up outside the cave, too, and she couldn't see any recognizable landmarks in the surrounding desert. She stumbled as one of the guards pushed her forward, and she followed the one leading their little party. As she did so she spotted a very, _very_ worrying amount of Stark Industries weaponry and crates.

The man who had first spoken to her stopped and turned. He said something, and the doctor translated. "He wants to know what you think."

Toni looked him in the eye, not letting any of her fear show. "I think you have a lot of my father's weapons."

The doctor translated. The leader continued speaking, and Toni was sure she caught the word 'Jericho'. Sure enough, the doctor said, "He says, uh, they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make a list of materials. He says for you to, uh, to start working immediately and when you're done, he will set you free."

The leader held out a hand. The Spock in Toni's head won out. She wasn't about to pointlessly martyr herself. She shook his hand, smiling. Still smiling, she said to the doctor, "No they won't."

The doctor, also smiling, replied, "No they won't." Toni's smile faded as she focused all her energy on not having a complete breakdown right then and there.

Back in the cave, the doctor took a seat near Toni. "I'm sure they're looking for you, Toni, but they will never find you in this place." She continued to stare resolutely into the fire. He continued. "What you saw out there… that is your family's legacy. Your father's life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to be remembered? Is this the last act of defiance of Toni Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

Toni wasn't in the mood for empowering speeches. "If I do anything about it they're going to kill me, you… Either way, even if I don't, I'll be dead in a week." She was surprised by how easy it was not to cry. There was no way out of this. She was going to die, and yet her eyes were dry as ever. _I guess I'm stronger than I thought. Hell of a time to discover that._

"Right. Then this is a very important week for you, isn't it?" Toni turned to look at the doctor. His expression was as grimly determined as she'd expected. What she hadn't expected was the strange white hybrid between a cat and a rabbit sitting on a table behind him. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes, but it was still sitting there. _Okay, clearly I'm not as strong as I thought because now I'm hallucinating._

 _I understand if you're confused, Antoinette Stark, but please try to remain calm,_ said a strange voice in her head.

Toni felt her expression darken. If there was one thing that could make this day worse, it was being reminded of how much her parents must have disliked her at birth to saddle her with that name. The doctor noticed her glare and turned to look at the bunny-cat. He turned right back around and said, "Is something wrong?"

 _So it is a hallucination. Great._ Toni shook her head. "No, it's nothing."

 _I understand you're a skeptic,_ said the mental voice that Toni could only assume belonged to the bunny-cat. _And since I'm invisible to everyone else in this compound, there really isn't any way I can convince you I'm not a hallucination. I'll just have to hope you believe in me eventually._

 _Of course a hallucination would say that,_ Toni thought as hard as she could. If this bunny-cat could use telepathy, maybe she could, too. _What are you?_

She was right. _I'm Kyubey. I can see that you're in a lot of trouble right now, and I want to help._

 _How is an invisible whatever-you-are supposed to help me escape a compound full of murdering kidnappers?_

 _I can offer you a contract. If you agree to become a magical girl, I will grant you one wish. Any wish you want, including getting out of this compound._

Toni stared at it, dumbfounded. _Wait, what?_

 **A/N: Yay, actual plot and magical girl stuff! I'm sorry if the dialogue from the movie isn't 100% accurate, I don't seem to be very good at understanding people when they speak. Don't have anything else to say, need to get to bed. See you next time for hopefully more Incubator goodness. And by that, I mean badness.**


End file.
